Love is Letting Go
by PurelyLilly4
Summary: Brooke always loved Lucas, but she married Chase. Lucas always loved Brooke, but ended up married to Peyton. But what happens when a car accident occurs, and their feelings are left unknown. One Shot. Previously StrawberryHearts4


Disclaimer- I own nothing

**Disclaimer- I own nothing**

**A/N- Hey, this is my FIRST one-shot. I never realized how hard it is to write a one-shot. For me, it is much harder than a story because you have to fit everything in…well anyways, I am not sure if this is confusing or not. Make sure to note the time and dates above each section.**

**Thanks**

**-Lilly**

**7:15 am. Tuesday, January 6.**

Brooke breathed in deeply, slowly exhaling her breath of air as she flickered open her eyes. Her fingers grazed her bare back, making their way down to the fabric as she zippered it shut. She stood, in the middle of her large bedroom, dressed in white. She stood in the middle of her large bedroom, dressed in her wedding dress. It was soft and simple, elegant and understated. She pulled the wedding ring off of her finger, caressing it with her soft hands. It was a beautiful wedding, but it was not the one she dreamed of, and it never would be. She closed her eyes and she saw the beach, the flowers, the guests, and the waves rustling in the distance, settling along the shore. She walked towards Lucas, his smile erupting butterflies in her stomach, his eyes locking with hers, and everything she saw, was perfect.

It was time to face reality, as Brooke unzipped and slid out of the gown, hanging it in the back of the closet. Every morning, before she went to work, she followed a routine. Every morning she tried on her wedding dress and imagined how it would be.

With her heels on her feet, purse on her shoulder, and keys in hand, Brooke Davis, an inspiration for aspiring fashion designers, walked out of her room, closing her door, a little too hard. A crash could be heard through the wooden door, but she kept on her way.

Chase and Brooke had been married 3 years. They had been married in a church, not the beach. Chase loved Brooke, but he also loved work. She wanted kids; he was fine how they were. She wanted more in their marriage; he settled for less.

The glass shards split into the carpet as the door closed, a picture frame falling from its stand, a crash seeping through the crack in the door. The picture lay on the floor, slightly ripped, Brooke on one side, in her wedding gown, and Chase on the other. Just like the picture, slowly their marriage was separating.

**-One Tree Hill-**

**6:30 pm. Tuesday, January 6.**

"It is really snowing hard out there," Lucas said closing the door, shaking the white snow off of his head.

"I know, already 8 inches, and they said it won't stop until tonight," Peyton replied, poking her head from the kitchen, as the phone began to ring.

"Peyton, will you answer that?" Lucas asked, disposing of his brief case and jacket in his office that veered off from the hallway.

"Yeah," Peyton said as she approached the ringing phone but not before looking at the caller id beforehand. With Lucas's success as a writer and Nathan's as a basketball player, their phone had been ringing off the hook with potential interviewers wanting to get a glimpse into their lives. After all, Peyton dated one Scott, and married the other.

"Who was it?" Lucas asked as she approached his wife, pecking her on the cheek before opening the refrigerator and grabbing a bottle of water.

"Interviewer," Peyton smiled, rolling her eyes as she silenced the phone, holding it behind her back as Lucas nodded and walked up the stairs to shower.

"Don't call us, Brooke. I will not let you steal him away from me and ruin my marriage," Peyton said to herself. She put the phone down on the counter and followed Lucas's footsteps, up the stairs, the phone flashing _Brooke Davis_.

Lucas could feel the steam from the shower. He knocked down Peyton's shampoo, bending down to pick it up. It was cherry flavored, and he wondered if she had done that to tempt him. It was so close to cheery, his cheery.

It was hard to forget the girl, now woman that made your heart flutter, your eyes sleepless, and your head pound. Her name was everywhere, from magazines to television screens. Her face graced pictures on tabloids, her eyes shining and dimples glowing. He had seen her on the sidewalk plenty of times, walking to work, or to the grocery store. All he wanted to do was run to her, take her in his arms and swing her 'round. He wanted to kiss her until her lips became red and her face flushed. But, he had made a promise, a promise to his wife, that he would not talk to Brooke Davis.

**Flashback**

___"Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, will you marry me?" Lucas asked, bent down on one knee. He saw the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. _

_"Yes, Lucas, yes," Peyton said, the tears coming down and gracing her face._

_Lucas couldn't help but imagine Brooke and the way she would have responded had he asked her. For, he wanted to ask her, but Chase had done so sooner. Was it bad that he was proposing to Peyton 6 days after Brooke's wedding, simply because he knew he had lost the love of his life? He waited until Brooke was married, hoping she wouldn't go through with the vows, but she did. She obviously didn't want him anymore, so he had to move on. He bought the ring, the first one he saw, and proposed to Peyton. He proposed to her, but envisioned Brooke Davis. _

_"But you have to promise to never talk to Brooke." Peyton said into his ear as they embraced, and for a moment Lucas went rigid._

_He pulled out of the hug and looked her in the eye, hoping to see a glint of a joke, but there was none. _

_"Why?" Lucas choked out._

_"Because you will fall in love with her," Peyton stated simply and Lucas was silent. _

**End Flashback**

He wasn't sure why he went ahead with the wedding, or why he accepted that ludicrous statement, but he had. Honestly, he was happy. He loved Peyton. He loved his job. They were planning on having kids, they had already tried a plethora of times, but never had they ended the night with a positive sign on the pregnancy test. They waited weeks and months, but it was becoming fruitless.

Lucas couldn't help but imagine Brooke during his and Peyton's love making. He couldn't help but imagine the way she touched him, the way she controlled him. When he had sex with Brooke it was passionate, whether or not it was slow, depended on whether or not they needed each other right then and there, although, Lucas always felt a need for Brooke. He took his time, exploring her, pleasuring her, and making sure she was comfortable. With Peyton, his wife, it was more of a job; get in and get out. It was more about pleasuring themselves than the other one.

Lucas Scott loved Brooke Davis. He wanted to be with Brooke Davis. He wanted more than anything to wake up to Brooke Davis.

**-One Tree Hill-**

**6:20 pm (10 minutes earlier). Tuesday, January 6.**

"Can you find a heartbeat?" The man asked urgently, calm, but insistent.

"Yes, but its faint, and it comes and goes," the woman replied.

"Contact the hospital. Tell them we have a woman coming in who has been in a car accident. She has lost 2 liters of blood and we can't find a consistent heartbeat. Tell them to be ready and to contact the family," The man in charged ordered as he situated himself in the ambulance to attend to the woman. Blood streamed down her face, her leg twisted, and her breathing soft and shallow. She was turning a light shade of blue, her muscles not responding to stimuli, and coldness settling in.

"Does she have any identification, a cell phone, anything?" the woman asked as she radioed the hospital.

"A cell phone," one of the other flight nurses replied, reaching into the woman's pocket and pulling out the phone, vibrating with messages.

"Good, now use the phone, try to see if her name is somewhere in it. Do it quick, we don't have much time, and we don't want the radio frequencies to conflict with the machines."

"Nothing," someone replied.

"Well, does she have any other sort of id…anything?"

The flight nurses searched the woman, careful not to touch any of the equipment that beeped and sounded through the wailing ambulance. The woman was dying before them, and they needed not only to keep her alive, but also to figure out whom she was.

"Brooke, Brooke Davis, founder of clothes over bros," one of the men said as he held up a work pass with her picture on it.

"Radio back to the hospital, tell them her name is Brooke Davis. We are losing her. With the snow blocking our path…can we get a helicopter, or something?"

"The helicopters can't fly in this condition. We are going to have to try to keep her with us. Talk to her, we can't lose her, not today.

"Brooke, Brooke," the man said, sitting behind her, tapping lightly on her cheek.

"Cold," Brooke responded, her first words since the whole time.

"Ok, here, place these over her body, warm her up," the man insisted, but he knew the coldness was from a loss of blood. There wasn't much they could do, and it didn't help that she wasn't complaining of pain. That meant, she was going into shock, and that was not something they could help too much with. At least, not in an ambulance with snow falling fast.

"Now tell us Brooke, do you have a husband?"

"Chase Adams," Brooke responded, knowing in the back of her mind that, that was not the first person she wanted to see when she was out of the vehicle.

"Ok, contact him," the man ordered.

"No," Brooke said, using all of her strength to be heard above the noise, although the noise was mostly from the outside.

"No?"

"Call Lucas Scott." Brooke coughed out, blood spilling from her mouth, which worried the man in charge, but still, he remained calm.

"No one is picking up," the woman said softly putting Brooke's phone down.

**-One Tree Hill-**

**1:28 am Wednesday, January 7.**

"Who the hell is calling this time?" Peyton groaned as she grabbed the phone.

"Hand it to me," Lucas said, his eyes still closed.

"Here," Peyton said, tossing it to him as she settled back into the covers of her bed.

"Hello," Lucas answered groggily.

**"Hello, is this Lucas Scott?"**

"Yes, who is this?" Lucas asked, slowly waking up, rubbing his eyes.

**"This is Dr. Mason, from the Tree Hill Hospital. I am going to need you to come down to the hospital. A woman here, has been in an accident, and she, we are just going to need you to come down."**

"Ok, who is it?" Lucas asked, immediately grabbing his boots, as it was still snowing, and his jacket, and throwing on some jeans in the process. All in all he was ready and almost out the door, ignoring Peyton's questions. Well, he was ready, until he heard the name being uttered from the other end.

**"Brooke Davis."**

He dropped the phone, not even bothering to hang it up as he raced to the hospital, not even bothering to get into his car as the roads were glazed with ice and snow. It was cold, and his fingers trembled, but the heat from his tears kept him warm.

His Brooke, his Cheery, his Pretty Girl…

All he could think about was getting to her, holding her, telling her everything would be okay. He ran his fastest, but the snow slowed him down. He cursed Peyton. He cursed Chase. He cursed every single person he could think of that separated him from Brooke, and separated him from the life he wanted to share with her.

**-One Tree Hill-**

**1:54 am, Wednesday, January 7.**

"Hi, Lucas Scott. I am here for Brooke Davis," Lucas said quickly, rushing through the hospital doors and into the waiting room where he was met by a woman with a soft smile; situated behind a desk.

"Will you have a seat Mr. Scott? The doctors will be with you in a moment," the woman said, showing him to a seat, her voice soft.

"No, I need to see her now." Lucas insisted, getting up from the chair, a magazine catching his eyes. It was Brooke. But, of course, he had already seen the cover. For, he owned a copy of the magazine, himself. Not that he would let anyone know he secretly ordered the magazine and had it sent to his office under Peyton's name. He just wanted to keep up with her career and support her any way he could.

"Mr. Scott," the doctor said slowly gesturing towards his office. Lucas nodded and followed behind him.

"What are we doing in here?" Lucas asked, knowing that being in an office was not a good sign.

"Please, Mr. Scott, take a seat," Dr. Mason sounded as he closed the door behind him.

"Ok," Lucas said uneasy as he sat and searched the doctor or clues as to what was coming.

"Brooke Davis was in a car accident yesterday, around 6:20 pm. The impact was such that her head hit the airbag, but glass still managed to penetrate, hitting main arteries in her arms. She was less than a centimeter close to dying upon impact. She broke 4 ribs, and by the time she arrived at the hospital, she had lost 3 liters of blood. Her muscles had stopped responding to stimuli, and her breathing was inconsistent."

"But she is ok," Lucas finished.

"I'm sorry, but we did all we could."

"But she is ok," Lucas insisted.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Scott, she passed on before she was even through the hospital doors."

Lucas fell apart. It didn't hit him, until then, that he would never see Brooke Davis again. He would never hold her. He would never see her walking down the sidewalk, her face on magazines. He would never get the chance to tell her that he loved her more than anything in the world.

Lucas Scott would have to go on without Brooke. It was an accident; that is how she died. The nurses flooded around him, offering condolences, telling him there was nothing he could have done. But, he knew otherwise.

Dr. Mason had told him that they had tried to call his house around 6:30, but nobody had answered. He had asked Peyton to get the phone, but she had told him it was just another interviewer, and he had thought nothing of it.

Had he gotten to the phone, had he been at the hospital, had he been there to save her. He had never saved her. He was always there to save Peyton, he had even jeopardized his and Brooke's relationship to save his now, wife.

Brooke Davis was amazing. She could control a room and capture them with her beauty and elegance. She could alter his mood with a smile, teach him beauty with a glimmer from her eyes and comfort him with a simple hug. He could feel her around him, and she fit perfectly.

The doctors had left, as well as the nurses, leaving him to his own peace. Lucas was not one to cry, but he couldn't help it. He loved Brooke, and until then, he didn't realize to what extent. It wasn't a love that he wondered existed, it was a love that thrived. He would give his life for hers, and worst of all, she would never know that.

**-One Tree Hill-**

**September 8 (5 years later)**

Lucas sat on the couch and looked at his life. He was divorced, alone, and jobless was coming next. He had filed for divorce on his way home from the hospital the day he was broken the news about Brooke. He had taken all his anger out on Peyton. He believed it was her fault for not answering the phone, for lying to him, and most of all, for not being Brooke. Not that he could blame her for the latter, but it was easier to find blame than to come to grasp the reality of it all. Brooke Davis was gone.

He because secluded. He went to work, he came home, and he cried, or he threw dishes at the wall.

It is hard to want one thing, but not ever be able to get it. He had gone to jail once for beating Chase up after having learned he didn't go to the hospital for Brooke, simply because it was snowing. That was his fucking wife, and he couldn't get up off his ass to do anything about it. That is how Lucas saw it. Brooke deserved better than any of this world had to offer. She deserved the best; she deserved parents that loved her, a husband that was devoted, and a friend that answered calls.

Nathan and Haley were there to see Lucas through the hardest part of the grief, but they also had to tend to their own emotions. Haley loved Brooke like a sister, and Nathan was heartbroken to hear that she had been killed. Killed…on accident.

With tears in his eyes, Lucas fell asleep, only to be awaken in the middle of the night, like normal. Every night he had a nightmare, or more, he relived the night Brooke died.

**-One Tree Hill-**

He loved Brooke Davis and he realized that loving someone was all about letting go. So, tonight he let go. He dreamed of her in her wedding dress, but for some reason, she was waiting for him.

He felt as if he was walking on air, the lightness with each step he took. He smiled at Brooke, whose eyes gleamed with love. She looked beautiful, the beach caressing her feet. The waves crashed in the distance, meeting Lucas's feet on the sand.

The sun shone with all of its might, and yet it was warm, not hot. It was the perfect temperature, with the perfect girl, and the perfect day.

He finally met her at the alter, and his hands brushed hers, sending the chills through both of their bodies.

"I love you," Brooke said softly, tears welling in her eyes.

"I love you too Brooke Davis," Lucas said, pulling her towards him into a hug, and like always, she fit perfectly.

"Scott. Brooke Scott," Brooke smiled flashing the wedding ring and gesturing towards the beach, but the chairs were all empty.

"Baby," Lucas smiled, his lips melting on hers. It was a kiss of love and one neither wanted to end.

"You're perfect you know that," Brooke smiled.

"I know," Lucas laughed and Brooke just smiled at him.

"What's wrong?" Brooke asked, noticing his confused expression.

"Nothing, I was just wondering, where everyone else was," Lucas replied, looking at the empty seats; seats that were slowly being filled. Keith sat in the front, a smile plastered on his face, Dan next to his brother, both of them looking proud.

"Down there, Lucas," Brooke replied softly looking down upon Haley and Nathan who were fondling over their new baby girl, and Karen who was baking a cake.

"I'm…de-" Lucas began.

"You went peacefully, without any pain. It happened in your sleep," Brooke said softly.

"I went, because I let you go," Lucas said softly.

"Yeah, and it took you forever to do so," Brooke chuckled.

"So, what do we do know?" Lucas asked.

"Talk to Keith, he has been watching over you for quite some time," Brooke smiled.

"You are perfect, you know that Pretty Girl," Lucas admired.

"Yeah, I know," Brooke smiled as she turned around and Lucas looked at her lovingly. She really was perfect.

**A/N- Well, I really hope that made sense, but I know there is a chance it doesn't. This was a one-shot, my first one, so it is probably rushed. **

**Well, please review and tell me what you thought.**

**Thanks**

**-Lilly**


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